Grace and cologal, you are missing the point and proving the point all at once. It should be up to individuals to make these decisions and have these discussions with their physicians. Families and individuals have been doing it for years without the government's intervention.

But should the governement dictate and regulate this? "Under the new policy, outlined in a Medicare regulation, the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment."

When the final version of the health care bill was signed into law by Obama in March it did not include the regulation for advance directives. Now it has been written back into the bill with Medicare regulations...and supporters are being told to not broadcast their accomplishment.

US Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, said in an email to people like John Rockefeller, who were working with him on adding this back into the already approved bill, "While we are very happy with the result, we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet. This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the ‘death panel’ myth," Blumenauer said in the hush-hush email.

“We would ask that you not broadcast this accomplishment out to any of your lists, even if they are ‘supporters’ — e-mails can too easily be forwarded. Thus far, it seems that no press or blogs have discovered it, but we will be keeping a close watch and may be calling on you if we need a rapid, targeted response. The longer this goes unnoticed, the better our chances of keeping it.”

If it is such a wonderful thing, why keep it quiet?



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/us...h.html?_r=3&hp